Thinking of you… Just Trust Me
Have you ever had one of those days when God makes it loud and clear everything is going to be okay? When you gain a sense ‘He is thinking of you’, with you and sending people to stand in the gap to pray for and encourage you.
Paul & I had one such day on the 9th of May. As we continue to push forward with setting up the Business as Mission company, we have many days when we feel like things are making sense, then either in a heartbeat or the next day, it then starts to feel like the plan is crumbling and we are back at square one. We are truly being humbled by the process, being taught great patience and stepping into this unknown is make us trust God with every breath and step we take. We have have had days when we feel that the task is too big for us, days when we feel overwhelmed by what God is calling us to do, days when we ask God “Why is it all moving so slowly?”
Spending time in God’s Word as individuals and as a couple, God keeps bringing us to the same lesson “Trust Me, that’s all you need to do Just Trust Me“, “I have called you into this, I will equip and provide… Just Trust me!” It is a daily reminder for us.
So… on the day in question, we were feeling discouraged thinking about the day head, praying about the financial budget for the BAM company that seems to be increasing, Paul feeling frustrated working on the budget and Sarah feeling overwhelmed working on the draft business plan. As we prayed through the requests, it felt like a mountain and we were at the bottom of it looking up wondering how we were going to climb it or if we would we ever be able to climb it?
During our time of prayer, both our phones pinged just after 7.30am alerting us to a message that had come through. 1-2 hours after we had finished praying we decided to look at the message. It was a message from a couple in Bangkok, that used to be in our Life Group and also given us advice on the BAM company, letting us know that they were thinking of us and praying for us. It lifted our spirits to know that we had friends standing in the gap interceeding for us.
Our Thai friend Na from Bangkok visiting us
After 1pm Sarah heard her phone ping again, but not wanting to stop straight away as she ploughed on with the business plan, she looked at her phone about 30 minutes later. We received a surprise message from our friend Na, whom we had taught in the bakery at NightLight. She was visiting family in a neighbouring province to Chiang Mai and wanted to come and see us on Monday 13th of May. With excitement, Sarah immediately called Na and said “Yes, please come. We are really missing you”. It again lifted our spirits to know that our Thai friend from Bangkok was also thinking of and reaching out to us.
Yet again another ping from Sarah’s phone just before 3pm. This time Sarah opened it at once to see who and what it was. Some more Thai friends and a foreign friend we had volunteered with at NightLight, that are now working together at another NGO. The message via Facebook messenger yet again explained how missed we are in Bangkok, and that our Thai friends have been thinking of us and wanted to see us when they come to Chaing Mai for a training course mid-June.
As I (Sarah) shared the last message with Paul we looked at each other and said in stereo “What’s happening?” There was now a clear pattern forming. It just seemed to be too much of a coincidence to be contacted by so many people in one day with similar messages for us. Paul let out an exhale and said, “Okay God, you’ve got our attention!”.
Just when we thought all the messages for the day had finished, Sarah checked her phone at about 5.30pm and saw an email in her inbox. Again another surprise message from someone that used to be in our Bangkok Life Group, but moved back to the USA last year. We hadn’t heard from her in a number of months, so it was very out of the blue. Her message aptly titled ‘Thinking of you’, once again explain that we had popped into her thoughts that morning while she was praying and she had prayed 2 scriptures for us – Psalm 90: 17 & Psalm 20:4.
May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.- Psalm 90:17
May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. – Psalm 20:4
God definitely had our full attention by the last message. We felt a sense of peace of how much He was ‘Thinking of us’, walking alongside us even in what we initially thought was a discouraging day. The Lord had used our friends to remind us that He is in full control of what He is calling us to do and we just need to ‘Trust Him’.
The events of the day also led us to think of Zephaniah 3:17. A wonderful reminder that not only is God with us, thinking of us, but He also rejoices over us with singing. Amazing!
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. – Zephaniah 3:17
Paul & Sarah in Thailand 